About Me

Why Marble?

You will find that most statuettes today are made with resin or a composition of resin and some other material. This is why they yellow with age and exposure to daylight.

The St. Augustine lions statuettes are special in every way. They are made of 90% Carrara marble, the same marble the originals boast of. They contain zero resin, plastic or other inexpensive binder. The lions are crafted using a decades-old method used specifically by artisans using high quality materials. Your lions will retain their majestic white marble look and feel to be cherished for generations.

St. Augustine Loves Lions is a labor of love born out of pure admiration for the city of St. Augustine. Gail Kraker is the heart and mind behind the venture. When she, hubby Jeff, and their three coconut retrievers moved to the sunshine town in 2011, she fell in love with the lions on the bridge like many others have.

After a year of extensive hunting for replicas for her home, Gail was disappointed to come up with naught. She realized other St. Augustine lovers must be equally disappointed.

For three years she wondered why no one was offering them then made it her mission to bring the first and only replicas to all who want the Ancient City’s majestic lions in their own homes.

It took a full year and was no easy task. Gail wanted the statuettes to be made of Carrara marble, just like the lions on the bridge. She looked into statue-makers for months and was unhappy with the quality of what she saw. She gave up. Then one day, on a lark, she made just one more search. To her surprise, she came up with the perfect statue-makers in Staffordshire, England. They make Carrara marble statues for some of the most prestigious galleries and art museums in Europe.

She worked with the statue-makers for eight grueling months to make sure the statues are true replicas of the lions on the bridge, down to having the same inscription along their sides. It took three expensive iterations for the artisans to make the lions just the way Gail knew you would want them.

It took another two months to get the first order from the statue-makers. You see, the artisans are sought after and busy. It takes time for them to get to the next order. Then each set of lions comes from a single set of molds, which means only one set of lions can be cast per day. It then takes the artisans time to do the fine hand-sculpted details on the lions.

Two months after the first order arrived, the photos and website were completed and Gail was ready to bring you the Ancient City icons you’ve been searching for.